


How Do I See You

by bluflamingo



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Friendship, Girls' Night, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2014-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-07 22:42:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1125259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluflamingo/pseuds/bluflamingo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper gets to know Clint and Natasha, from we're-not-calling-it-girls'-night-out to friendly drop-ins to Italy</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Do I See You

**Author's Note:**

> Written for franztastisch

"I brought someone with me," Natasha said when Pepper sat down next to her at the bar. Natasha already had a glass in front of her, a pink umbrella resting against a lemon slice, not what Pepper would have expected from her. Not what Pepper would have expected from Natalie, anyway; who knew what Natasha liked to drink.

"Someone?" she asked, opening the cocktail menu and checking the stool next to Natasha's – definitely empty, and no jacket to give a clue to gender.

"He's late." Natasha turned to face Pepper full on, eyes clear when they met hers. "I hope that's all right."

Natasha worked with Phil, Pepper knew, and presumably had other friends at SHIELD, but somehow, this didn't sound like a friend. "Of course. I'd like to meet him. What's his name?"

"Clint," Natasha said, one hand rising slightly from the bar, her gaze shifting over Pepper's shoulder, so that she wasn't surprised when a man stepped up beside Natasha. "You're late."

Presumably-Clint grinned and bumped his arm against Natasha's shoulder. Even under a leather jacket, Pepper thought she saw very nice arms. "Blame Hill," he said, then, quieter, "Sorry."

Natasha shook her head, leaning into him a little. "This is Pepper. Pepper, this is Clint. We work together."

"We –" Clint took a step back to give Natasha a mock-hurt look that made Pepper smile. "Excuse you, we 'work together' with junior SHIELD agents. We're _partners._ " He offered Pepper his hand. "Good to meet you."

"You, too." Pepper shook, instead of asking exactly what partners meant in this context; she didn't think she and Natasha were close enough yet for that. Clint's hand was warm in hers, rough from whatever it was he did for SHIELD, and he went neither alpha-male strength nor don't-damage-the-delicate-woman with his handshake. "Buy you a drink?"

"Nah, this one's mine." Clint snagged the cocktail glass, nudged the umbrella away from poking out his eye, and drank, which was when Pepper finally noticed the whiskey glass tucked into a shadow, a faint lipstick mark on the rim.

She looked at Natasha, who looked back, the very corners of her mouth tipped slightly up, like she knew Pepper knew she'd done that on purpose.

Pepper flagged down the bar-tender. "I'll have what he's having."

*

Pepper and Natasha's we're-not-calling-them-girls'-nights happened pretty regularly, but, even after he tagged along, it took until the night Pepper turned up at their bar to find just Clint for him to become part of that.

"Ms Potts," Clint said, rising as Pepper got close to the table he'd taken. Natasha talked about him, enough that Pepper's mental image of him from the time they'd met two months ago had solidified into a man who didn't, generally, wear dress slacks and a dark purple shirt under a vest.

Which was a shame, because he really did look good in them.

"Agent Barton." Pepper took the spare chair, in case Clint was about to be overcome with misplaced chivalry. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Tasha sent me. She would have called but..." He glanced down, the way Pepper was learning from Natasha meant SHIELD-business.

"She's okay?" Pepper asked, since she'd also learnt that she wouldn't get an answer to any other question.

Clint nodded, sort of jerky and for the first time, Pepper noticed the tension in his shoulders and the sharpness around his eyes. Not entirely okay, then. "She's Tasha."

"She is." Pepper flipped open the drinks menu, mostly to give Clint a moment if he needed it. "How long have you worked with her?"

"Oh. You don't – I just came to let you know about Natasha, you don't have to –"

Pepper raised the eyebrow that brought even Tony Stark into line. "You're not even going to offer to buy me a drink? Agent Barton, I'm wounded."

"Clint, really. Agent Barton is – work, I guess."

"Clint?" Pepper waited for him to look at her, then smiled. "Why don't you let me buy you a drink?"

It took a minute, but Clint's answering smile was warm and almost sweet. "Why don't I?"

*

Fittingly, Pepper was late next time, coming off one of those calls that she took thinking it would be five minutes and was still on twenty minutes later.

She was expecting Clint, of course, and Natasha was half the reason they'd started this months ago, but somehow, she hadn't quite expected Clint-and-Natasha. They were sitting opposite each other, both looking in different directions across the bar – watching the exits, or the crowd, maybe – and not saying anything. Clint was tapping the fingers of his right hand against a tall glass of brightly colored something, Natasha's left hand was dropped below the table, but their free hands were resting in the center of the table, fingertips barely touching.

In anyone else, it wouldn't have looked like anything, just two friends. It was Natasha, though, who was almost painfully private, not quite holding hands with someone in public. Pepper had sort of assumed that she and Clint were more than friends, but she couldn't imagine any clearer evidence that what she was seeing.

Well, maybe except for the way they both turned to look at her in the same moment. Pepper raised a hand in a half-wave. When she looked back, both Clint and Natasha had moved their hands so they weren't touching at all, but it didn't matter. Pepper felt like she'd been given some sort of key to the two of them. The ability to see how they really felt with each other, like a golden cloud around them.

Pepper smiled, and went to join them.

*

Pepper was wandering through Stark Tower, too late to really still be up, too tired to actually go to bed, when she heard music coming from a room down the corridor. It took her a moment to catch the rhythm, the sound light and sweet, a waltz, half-familiar, but not enough for her to place it.

She frowned, hesitating – Tony was down in the lab, surrounded by blueprints for the damaged parts of the Tower, and she knew she hadn't left music playing when she went down to sit with him for a while. "You're being ridiculous," she told herself quietly. It wasn't like the Tower was empty, even barely a week out from it nearly being destroyed by an alien god.

Which, really, was most of her problem.

She took a deep breath, reminded herself that she never called for help until she'd found a verified threat, and took the last few steps down the corridor so she could peep round the open door.

It wasn't an invading alien horde, or evil space robots, or even one of the ex-marines who worked security for the building, but she wasn't sure that she'd have been more surprised by one of those than she was by the sight of Clint and Natasha, barefoot in the middle of an empty room, stock-still in a perfect waltz pose and looking back at her.

"I didn't think you two were staying here," she said without really thinking about it.

Natasha shrugged, neither one of them dropping the hold. "We've been around."

They both bore the after-effects of the Battle, bruised and weary-looking, Natasha's normally pale skin practically translucent, and Clint's eyes shadowed and dark. Even in soft jeans and T-shirts, they both carried a tension that Pepper hadn't seen since the first days after finding out Natalie was actually Natasha.

"I called SHIELD," she said, instead of asking how they were. "Deputy Director Hill said you left town after Thor, um –"

Clint flinched, visibly, even as Pepper cut herself off, the movement enough to show how hard Natasha was holding onto him. "Meant to," he said, his voice flat. "She knows we didn't quite make it."

Protecting them, then, even though they didn't need to be protected from Pepper. At least, she hoped they didn't. "There's probably a better space, if you want to dance," she offered, moving a little closer and finally spotting the mp3 player and travel speakers in the corner. "And we've definitely got a better music system."

"This is good." The music changed, and Natasha shifted slightly. Clint moved with her, and Pepper watched her hand tighten slightly on his shoulder before they stepped into the waltz in perfect time.

Pepper knew that Natasha could dance, and if she'd thought about it, she might have guessed that SHIELD would have taught Clint for a mission, or at least tried, because Natasha dancing made sense, but Clint... really didn't. Except that here he was, evidence that in fact he did make sense as a dancer right in front of her. Natasha was clearly in charge, subtly nudging Clint into a turn, but they both moved with the kind of confidence that said they'd done this more than once, with each other.

No-one said anything about her leaving, so Pepper leaned against the wall and watched. They stood too close now for a perfect waltz frame, and Natasha's hands slid up to cup the back of Clint's neck, his hands sliding down to rest at her waist. When Pepper checked, his eyes were closed, but he didn't startle at all as the piece ended and Natasha leaned in to brush her lips against his.

"I should get to bed," Pepper said quietly over the low sound of the next piece.

"Stick around if you want," Clint said without opening his eyes. "We don't mind if you don't."

Pepper glanced at Natasha for confirmation, then felt foolish in the face of Natasha's obvious agreement. Of course either one of them could speak for both of them – some days, she wondered if they didn't read each other's minds. "Thank you," she said.

*

"Pepp? Pepper, light of my life?" Tony appeared on the sun porch a moment after his voice found Pepper there, just enough advance warning for her to pretend she hadn't fallen asleep while reviewing SI budget projections. "Pepper!" Tony grinned, dropping a kiss on her forehead, then letting her pull him closer for a second kiss. Between the Italian sun and the time away from work and world-saving, he looked good. They both did.

"There are two government-sanctioned assassins on our doorstep, and they're asking for you."

It was maybe a little too soon for Pepper not to feel a moment of fear at the word assassin, but not so soon that her rational mind didn't kick in right after.

"You're smiling." Tony frowned. "Assassins make you smile, now?"

"Not all assassins," Natasha said, two steps behind him after approaching on silent feet. Her smile when Tony jumped was pure amusement, making her look so young and happy that Pepper couldn't help returning it. "Just these two."

"You're a menace," Tony told her. "Where's your troublesome half?"

Even Pepper jumped when Clint said, "Right here," from the top of the courtyard wall. That thing was 12 feet high, and completely smooth, but there he was, grinning like a fool from on top of it.

Natasha rolled her eyes and held out a hand. "Come down here like a civilised person."

"Yes, dear." Clint jumped, landing almost silently despite his heavy boots. "Hi, Pepper."

"Decided to drop in?" Pepper asked, since someone was bound to make the pun eventually.

"Something like that." Natasha moved close enough to touch Pepper's shoulder, bringing Clint with her, since they were now holding hands. "We were in the neighbourhood."

"Wait, hold on." Tony held both hands up, then immediately dropped them so his palms were down, as though he was wearing the suit. "I don't even rate a hello, here? After we saved the world together?"

"We said hello already," Clint said patiently. "When you opened the door."

"You said, 'is Pepper here?' and then shooed me until I went to get her," Tony corrected.

Natasha touched Pepper's bare shoulder again, which from Natasha was more or less an all-enveloping bear hug. Tony didn't seem to have noticed that she and Clint were still holding hands. "I don't know what to tell you," she said. "We only saved the world with you. Pepper's a friend."

Pepper felt her face flush, stupidly – as though she hadn't known that Natasha and Clint considered her their friend, the same way she did both of them – and didn't even bother hiding her smile as Tony sputtered in mostly-fake indignation and Clint and Natasha grinned at each other, hand in hand and safe, and there.  



End file.
